Archive for May 29, 2018

Last week, however, came word from Lehigh University, and confirmed by reporting by several news organizations, that Caitlin (Williams) Dallmayer was cleared from all allegations of wrongdoing as the university’s head coach.

The indication came in a five-paragraph letter from Joe Sterrett, the university’s Dean of Athletics, a copy of which was was viewed by TopOfTheCircle.com. It reads, in part:

“…[t]he review found no indication that a culture of physical or mental abuse exists within the [f]ield [h]ockey program. There was a general sense that Coach Caitlin Dallmayer, who has headed up the program for the past two years, has implemented significant changes to turn around a program with a long history of poor performance and losing records. This transition has resulted in feeings of stress associated with higher levels of intensity, but has netted some early indicators that the team is moving in the right direction. End-of-season administrative reports and student-athlete and team evaluations affirmed this positive progress, while acknowledging areas for improvement.”

To me, that’s a clear endorsement for the direction the program is taking.

Well, as you might expect, our Top 10 is about as stable as an igloo in a desert this time of year. Pittsford (N.Y.), the defending large-school champion from New York, fell from No. 1, only a few weeks after Owings Mills McDonogh (Md.) did the same. Still, there’s about three weeks left in the domestic girls’ lacrosse season, and anything can happen in the states that are still playing.

Our honorary No. 11 Team of the Week is James Madison University, a star-crossed program which was mired in a decade and a half of being in mid-table in the CAA, and this preseason was ranked 17th in the polls. But the coaching staff parlayed a group of well-trained and motivated seniors to win the NCAA Division I final over Boston College last weekend.

1. Towson Notre Dame Prep (Md.) 17-4

Season complete: Blazers were in every game this season except for one this year; with a few breaks, they could have been 21-0 on the year

2. Manhasset (N.Y.) 14-1

Indians take on Garden City on Thursday in the NYSPHSAA Section 8-Class B final

3. Glenelg (Md.) 12-2

Season complete: Gladiators won the MPSSAA Class 2A final with a 6-5 win over Parkton Hereford (Md.)

4. Owings Mills McDonogh (Md.) 21-1

Season complete: McDonogh made a few too many mistakes early in the IAAM Class “A” final against Notre Dame Prep and never was able to catch up